Lithuaniaofficially Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian Lietuva, or Lietuvos Respublikacountry of northeastern Europe, the southernmost and largest of the three Baltic states. It is bounded on the north by Latvia, on the east and south by Belarus, on the southwest by an exclave of Russia and by Poland, and on the west by the Baltic Sea. The capital is Vilnius.The area is 25,213 square miles (65,301 square kilometres).

For a time during the Middle Ages, Lithuania was a large and powerful kingdom. For much of its history, however, it has been more narrowly bounded and has been dominated by foreign powers, the most prominent being the Russian Empire and the U.S.S.R. After a brief period of independence from 1918 until 1940, Lithuania was incorporated into the U.S.S.R. as one of its constituent republics. On March 11, 1990, the republic declared its independence, by a unanimous vote of the newly elected parliament.

A period of intense political, economic, and military pressure by central Soviet authorities ensued in an attempt to force the nation to suspend or retract its declaration. Military maneuvers, seizure of public institutions by the armed forces, disruption of the supply of oil, natural gas, industrial raw materials, and food products eventually resulted in a compromise. On June 29, 1990, the Lithuanian parliament, while not renouncing the declaration of independence, agreed to a 100-day moratorium. The economic blockade was lifted by Soviet authorities. In early January 1991 Soviet military forces occupied the Lithuanian television broadcast centre and several other government buildings in Vilnius. Civilian casualties occurred. This served only to heighten resolve within Lithuania and throughout the Baltic region and at the same time to attract international support for the right of Lithuania and other Soviet republics to seek political independence. Following the abortive attempt by Communist Party conservatives in the U.S.S.R. to overthrow the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Lithuanian independence was acknowledged by the new Soviet parliament on Sept. 6, 1991.